Although three-dimensional (3D) printing does currently exist, much of this technology is expensive to use, and the range of materials that are useable in a particular printer are usually quite limited. This creates an encumbrance, especially for those wishing to produce metal parts through 3D printing.
One example is US Published Application No. 2015/0210010, in which liquid or gel substances are deposited and then cured. The use of liquids and gels limits material selection. For example, it is impractical to dispense most metals as liquids because of their high melting temperatures, and tendency to oxidize when molten and exposed to air. Also, US Published Application No. 2002/0145213, discloses the deposition of layers of build powder, and the selective deposition of binder powder interspersed into the build powder. But using this method, it is virtually impossible to get the thorough mixture of bind powder with build powder that is necessary to create a uniform printed object, without porosities. Further, if the build and binder powders are similar, the unbound build powder may tend to sinter together at the temperatures necessary to activate the bind powder, causing great difficulty in freeing the printed object from the surrounding sintered powder. But if the bind powder and build powder are dissimilar, the different material qualities can cause undesirable properties in the resultant 3D printed object. Both of these references appear to disclose systems in which a curing operation is required after the deposition of each layer, a step that prolongs the process and adds to the complexity and expense of the required machinery.